Dry heating for a tenner

Thanks for all the replies so far. I'm not looking for keeping the boat heated through the night just getting warm and dry after a sail and a little heat in the morning too.

If there electricity I'll grab it and use the fan heater, but I've been looking for alternatives so...

Themes emerging seem to be that:
- any fuel used for more than a few minutes will need a flue, both for CO safety and to get rid of all the moisture produced
- Paraffin heater (and lamps - good suggestion as I have a couple sitting in the loft at home) - but again will need flue if on for long
- Storage heater solutions - sounds most promising if the hatch is open while the cookers on to get rid of some of the moist air, then shut while the brick/flowerpot provides some warmth. Alas I don't have an oven, which would have been even neater.

Given a decent budget I do like the caravan heater idea, which keeps fuel sources to a minimum, along with no smell and the fuel kept outside. Might be too big though, and it'll definitely have to wait until next year.

I was hoping somebody would mention something lI'd never heard of ike the "B&Q heat-brick, self-heating for 6 hours, at £9.99 for a pack of 4". Still hoping.
 
NEVER USE A TILLY TO HEAT WITH THERE VERY DANGEROUS

The summer befor this someone told me my tilly would provide heat and light one freezing August day i was wet cold and drity and wonderd why i was where i was.

I dident have enough gas to use the cooker as the Garage in town was waiting for a delivery and i was already useing my small gas bottle reserve

That evening instead of turning the tilly light out i turned it down (to bright to sleep) climbed into my med weight sleeping bag pulled a thin blanket overme and shiverd to sleep 5 am i drempt i was sufforcating woke up and found the whole cabin full of white stinking parrafin vapor the lamp had lost pressure the light gone out but the vapor had continused long enough to fill the cabin

One spark and the boat would have exploded in flames. The cabin stank for months afterwards

Even a petrol cooker under a chimneys better than pressure parafin anything!There monsters!! A petrol stove dosent block up as the jets cleand automaticaly Petrol stoves are hot cheep to run and pertol can be found anywhere

However the Pompiers in France told me they thought a petrol stove a poor idea on a boat and told me not to use it??? Now im useing Diesel though that dose leave black soot alover the cabin roof (outside) and on the deck!!Safe and very walm the French Pompiers said they were pleased they wouldent be called out as i wouldent blow myself up with diesel!One less risk for them.
 
I have a portable propane heater on my 25' Albin.I havn't had a problem with condensation though the Albin is well ventilated anyway.it is designed for indoor use and has a low oxygen cut off device. It puts out a lot of heat and used on low setting a cartridge last me about 6 hours I find it ideal for the few evenings I spend at anchor. I bought mine in the UK can't remember ware.

Martin web page
 
Re: Dry heating for a tenner ... go back a few years ...

Not so long ago ... calor gas / propane ballon heaters were common. Walk into a corner shop or someones home / flat and see one in the corner ... quielty pushing out heat and all around tickety-boo.
I suppose the room size had something to do with it ... as a boat is a bit limited in volume ...
 
Not me, but seems like a sound proposition.
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Make a Simple Solid Fuel Stove For Your Boat

I used to have my boat lifted out every year, but the seasons are short enough as they are . . . so for last few years she has stayed in the water on a very sheltered swinging mooring on the upper reaches of the River Fal. The heater i made up last winter makes it really snug on board no matter how cold it gets outside - if anything it's too efficient. If someone wanted to spend a bit more I suppose it could be made up with stainless steel.
I made my heater up with a 12inch length of 4x4 inch box section, with plates welded top and bottom. It's just a length of mild steel box section with a couple of brackets welded on to hold it in place. The doors are the same, mild steel, held in place with a heavy-duty steel hinge welded on. The catch is simply a bolt welded in place with a butterfly nut to hold it closed - same on the bottom door. The top door is fitted at least 2 inches down from top of heater
There are two doors both in front - one at the top to put fuel in, one at bottom to clean ashes out, with a griddle welded in a third of the way up from the bottom. The bottom door has a simple vent in it. It can be made more sophisticated but it does the job ok for me; if anything it's too efficient.

The chimney exits out of the top. I suppose total length would be around seven feet; the heater is mounted a few inches above the cabin sole and shaped to follow the contours of the side of the boat so the chimney is out of the way and makes it unlikely that anyone would grab a hold of it. The lower in the boat it can be mounted the better the draught up the chimney and the warmer the feet stay . . . It sticks about four inches out of the roof with a mushroom shaped dome on to to keep the rain out.
The draught is controlled in the bottom door by drilling a couple of holes in centre of door covered with a round plate which simply swivels on a bolt, again with a butterfly nut to hold it shut.
The chimney is a stub of 1 3/4" inch steel tube welded on which allows a stainless 2" inch tube to slip over. The 2" tube is lagged because it gets extremely hot.
None of the heater is sealed in anyway what so ever. As the chimney is always drawing no fumes escape from it, but the doors are close fitting. I was thinking of fitting some sort of baffle in the chimney to close it up tighter but was worried about it fuming so decided to leave the chimney open.
Light it with some small chopped kindling then its fed with those round boiler type nuts - lasts for ages and ever so cheap to run.
I welded it up myself and the metal I scrounged - all I bought was the stainless tube I used for the chimney and some elbows. I converted a old bronze vent to allow it to exit the cabin roof.
The only advice i can really give is - keep it simple, don't overbuild it.
It gives out masses of heat so unless you've got a bigger boat than mine - Sabre27 - definitely don't make it any bigger.
The whole thing is covered in black lead, but it still shows rust through it; don't think it's possible to stop it, but anyway its so cheap what does it matter. . .
 
Share your sleeping bag and move around 'a bit' /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif the combined body heat and raised metabolic rate means you wont need any heating. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
... heat-brick, self-heating for 6 hours, at £9.99 for a pack of 4". Still hoping.

[/ QUOTE ]

How about something akin to the chemical heat hand warmers? A bigger version or a finned 'pocket' that sheds the heat from several around the boat. Just a thought.
 
Re: Dry heating for a much more than a tenner

Martin, if yours is a Mr Buddy heater (search the net for best price under £70) those cartridges cost a bomb even if you buy them 12 at a time. So change your cooker supply to propane (red Calor bottles instead of blue) then with an extension hose run heater or cooker from the same economical source.

Original? Just following advice from intelligent forumites a year ago. This topic must be a hardy annual . . .

Oh, Mr B comes with built-in tilt, leak, oxygen and CO sensers - plus all the warnings about ample ventilation of course.

However. don't let me stop those of you determined to turn your boats into floating allotment sheds. Heaven help your stability curves: more likely to invert with a pile of storage bricks above the waterline methinks!

CJH
 
Don\'t worry ... he often does this ....

Along with cultivate more friendships ....

He knows what he's talking about ....
 
Re: Dry heating for a much more than a tenner

[ QUOTE ]
(search the net for best price under £70)

[/ QUOTE ]

The only heater on Cottontail is a kettle which I fill up and heat before bed time, if only it lasted longer than 3 hours though. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Re: Dry heating for a much more than a tenner

I just ignore the rust, worse things happen at sea! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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I like it Tommy ....

Has a certain "Rustic" look about it ... bet it works a treat !

Think the kettle ought to have a safety holder though !! or a "sky-hook" onto the handle ...
 
visit a camping shop. For years they have sold a single ring cooker which uses a gas container. The gas containers are about as big as my wifes hair spray and cost about a pound each. AND they now also sell heaters which use the same cartridges! They have all the expected safty features and cost about 30 quid (MAKRO). I have one on my 10M yacht. It takes the chill off on perishin nights, but is most adequate on cold nights, certainly hotter than an electric fan heater, but only about 3 hours on full belt from each cartridge, (3 hrs for £1, not that bad really!)
 
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